Our Trans-Canada trip: The Okanagan Valley

Our dormant phase in Vancouver was great for hibernation purposes. But guess what, friendlier weather has returned! And so, we decided to spruce it up a bit with a long weekend waddle into British Columbia’s wine country.

Now, to be clear, we are back on the road full time for all intents and purposes. We do have our lazier days when we will just stay in a boring old town and sleep a lot. But you don’t have to know that.

Once we officially left Vancouver (i.e. packed up the car and said adios to the apartment), we did go on a quick two-week cheat trip to California. And I would rant and rave about Yosemite but this is not the time or the place. Once I can form sentences that go beyond ‘WOW’ and ‘Ahhh’, and are not non-sentences that look like mouth wide open and drooling, I will most definitely tell you all about it!

Once back in Canada, we were ready to jump in where we left off and tackle British Columbia, Yukon Territories, and Alaska.

Our drive on our first day from Vancouver to Penticton took us through the gorgeous E.C. Manning Park. This park is popular amongst Vancouverites because it is only 2 hours away from the city and is great for hiking, camping and all things outdoorsy. We even stopped at one point in the park and ate Chole Bhature because it is always nice to make the Indians proud.

The landscape quickly changes though from tall snow capped mountains to rolling green hills and more wineries than you can count. This is when you know you have reached the Okanagan Valley.

We stayed in Penticton for two nights. And in those two nights we found that (a) Penticton is great for bouldering and (b) we (read: I) are ridiculously out of shape. So, on day one, we revelled in my out-of-shape-ness and got good and wine drunk. That is, Pierre drove me around and I tasted all the wine I could before I realized I had a limit. Now, before you get all judgemental on me, let me just add that Pierre does not drink. So I usually play this game by myself.

Since we have a Visa Infinite card, I could do wine tasting at lots of wineries free of charge. See, I am all about making Indians proud these days!

The next day, we decided that we were going to be healthy or something and rented bikes and rode all the way to Naramata. Even though this town is only 15 kms away, a good chunk of it was a steady uphill climb. Needless to say, when we returned back to Penticton, I treated myself to all the melted chocolate I could find.

That night we drove to Kelowna and slept like babies! After a quick (and very lazy) trip to Myra Canyon Trestles, we joined our Airbnb hosts at the beach. Jennifer and Mitch are fellow travellers/bloggers and definitely our best Airbnb hosts so far. When we returned back to their house, we drank some wine, climbed their roof and basically had a jolly old time!

**Due to the amount of wine involved, the details of this blog post are a bit fuzzy. Please excuse any indiscretion.